Swaziland and Kruger National Park
Over the weekend we (me, Katy, Candice, Cassie and Margie)
went to Swaziland and Kruger for a short vacation. The whole reason that we
went was because my passport was going to expire before I left. I had to leave
South Africa and re-enter to get re-stamped and be able to stay until April 29.
We made a full weekend out of it and had a blast among many adventures!
Day 0- Friday, March 22
We spent the night at Margie’s house on Friday night. We
were going to have to leave early in the morning on Saturday and she is a half
hour away from us. That would have added an extra hour to her day of driving
and this way we could all get a few extra minutes of sleep. We started the
weekend off right with a trip to McDonalds for dinner. I think it might have
been the best McDonalds that I have ever had. We then went to her house and
went to bed right away, which turned into later than we wanted. We were all
getting excited for what the next day was going to hold.
Day 1- Saturday, March 23
On Saturday we woke up around 2:30am to get ready for the
day and left around 3:45am. It was about a four and a half hour drive to
Swaziland. We made it to the boarder and went through the process of crossing.
First you drive through a gate that means you are leaving South Africa. Then
you have to stop, get out and go inside to get your passport stamped that you
are leaving the country. You get back in the car and drive to the next stop and
get your passport stamped to enter Swaziland. Then finally you get in the car
and drive through the boarder and officially enter Swaziland. Once we got in
Swaziland we went to glass factory that we about 5 minutes from the boarder. We
had breakfast since it was around 9:30am. After breakfast we walked around some
of the shops and through the store of the glass factory. They were not doing
the glass blowing so we did not get to see that but we were able to get some
really neat things made from recycled glass. We then headed off to a big
African market. This market was very big. There were 126 different places to
shop. It was set up football field size with all the shops around the boarder
and room for parking in the center. It was lots of fun and I was able to get a
few things. After the market we went to Pick n Pay to get some things for
lunch. We just bought some snack things for lunch. Then we continued another
two hours driving through Swaziland to the place that we were going to stay.
Along the drive we learned more about Swaziland. Swaziland has the highest percentage
of the population with HIV or AIDS. About 1 in every 2 people is infected. We
also learned more about the king and his 33 wives. It was beautiful along the
way as well. There were many mountains and places that you could just see for
miles. Along this drive we also had some fun sharing love with others. We were
on the road and driving behind a pickup truck that had 5 people sitting the bed
of the truck. We waved and were laughing at each other for some time. Then
Margie handed me her Pringles and a bottle of lemonade and told me that she was
going to pull up along side of them and I had to gently toss the treats to
them. We also found some donuts to give them and put everything together in a
plastic bag. Margie pulled up along side of them and I tossed the bag over and
it made it in the back of the truck. They loved it! It took all of .2 seconds
before the bag was torn open and they were enjoying the treats. Something that
you could never do in the States but was so much fun. We also pick up some corn
along the way to share with people. It is common in South Africa and in
Swaziland to find people grilling corn on the side of the road. The corn has
the husk already off and is hot from the fire when you buy it. It is usually
5Rand (50cents) to get an ear. We tried some and really enjoyed it. It has a
popcorn taste and is crunchy. We were able to pass these out to people we saw
walking along the side of the road. And there are lots of people who just walk,
as it is a very poor country. Everyone that we met has soooo happy to have that
ear of corn. Each one of them we watched in the rearview mirror and every last
one of them started to eat right after we pulled away. We all talked about how
it was one of our favorite parts of the trip. The see the pure joy and true
thankfulness was incredible. Along our drive we drove through a part of an
animal reserve and saw some warthogs, giraffes, and different deer creatures.
It was so neat to see. We also saw monkeys on the side of the road many
different times throughout the day. We even had to stop for a cow crossing. One
of the not so nice things about the drive was some of the roads. Many of the
roads, main roads included had numerous speed bumps on them. Not very nice. The
speed would also change all the time and it does the same thing in South
Africa. It would start out around 60km/hr (36mph) and then go up to 80km/hr
(48mph) then 100km/hr (60mph) and finally reach 120km/hr (72mph) only to go
back to 100km/hr and then 80km/hr and 60km/hr and the cycle would just continue.
We finally made it to our destination by the middle of the afternoon. We stayed
at the Mananga Country Club. We had three rooms, two of them had two double
beds and one had one double bed. Candice and I like to sleep with fans running
and be really cold so we shared a room and Katy and Cassie shared a room while
Margie took her own room. Some of the perks of our rooms, a TV, air
conditioning, a double bed all to our selves, a huge bathroom and the list
could go on. We loved where we were staying. The grounds were also beautiful.
There are many animals that run wild such as zebras, different kinds of deer,
monkeys and a giraffe. They had a golf course, swimming pool and restaurant all
on site. The first thing that we did when we got there though was go to meet
Hobs. Margie has told us many stories about Hobs and we were excited to meet
him. Hobs is a zebra that is wild but allows you to pet him as long as you feed
him. We picked up some carrots and got some great pictures of us feeding and
petting Hobs the zebra. It was really neat. After spending some time with Hobs
we moved into our rooms and went to the restaurant for dinner. We enjoyed
dinner while Margie decided to go back to her room to get a head start on sleep
since it had been a long day of driving and the next day was going to be the
same. After eating we walked back less than half a mile to our rooms in the
dark. Thankfully we did not run into any animals along the way! We went to bed
early and dreamed about what was still to come the next day.
Day 2- Sunday, March 24
On Sunday we woke up around 5:30am to get ready to load the
car and leave between 6:30 and 7am. We all agreed that it was one of the best
nights sleep we had maybe ever had. While we were getting ready the power
decided to go out and did not come back on before we left. This is common but
it still proved to be an inconvenience. Once we were ready we went outside and
fed some of the monkeys and went to visit Hobs one more time. Then we got in
the car and headed for the boarder 5 minutes away. We made it through the
boarder fine and found out that the date on my visa will allow me to stay even
though the passport stamp does not match. They said that I will be fine and I
am trusting them even though this is Africa. Continued prayers for the trip
back would be much appreciated. Once we were across we headed toward the
Crocodile Bridge entrance to Kruger National Park. We stopped by the sign to
take some pictures which you might have seen on facebook and then headed in for
our adventure. We spent the whole day driving around in the park. Margie told
us that if you wanted to drive the entire park you would have to drive everyday
from when the gates opened to when they closed for over two months. It is a big
place! We saw lots of neat animals but did not spot all of the big 5
unfortunately. We did see the cape buffalo, rhino and elephant but did not see
the lion or the leopard. We also saw giraffe, warthog, hippo, zebra, waterbuck,
wildebeest, impala, spiders, turtles, lizards, and birds. It was a really fun
day. Some highlights were seeing
the some giraffes try and scare an elephant. It did not work so well and the
elephant ended up scaring the giraffes away from the watering hole. In order to
use the bathroom you just find a spot without other cars and animals and quick
do your business outside praying that a rhino does not come up behind you. We
had come great and really funny conversations in the car and that helped to
make the car ride not so bad. When it was close to closing time we headed out
of Kruger and started making the 4 and a half hour drive back to the baby
house. We stopped for some McDonalds for dinner and just kept on driving. When
we were about 45 minutes from the baby house things got interesting. We were
going 120 km/hr or 72 mph. It was 10:15pm. We were in a road work zone and
could see flashing lights in the left lanes. Margie got over to the right lane
and before we knew we were in water. Margie was able to keep the car under
control and we did not hit anything and nothing hit us. When we finally came to
a stop we saw that the situation was not good. The car would not start and the
water was around a meter deep. All of the flashing lights turned out to be tow
trucks. We sat in the car for about 15 minutes and no one came to help us or to
see if we were all right. Margie decided to roll up her pant legs and go talk
to them herself. When she went up to them they asked her what the problem was.
Well our car happens to be sitting in a river on the highway if you didn’t
notice! They said that they could tow us out and about 20 minutes away was
Margie’s office where we could get a new vehicle. We got towed out and the
driver came over to talk to us more. He told us that it was going to be very
expensive and asked if there was anyone we could call to get a rope tow. Margie
called a guy from her office and he came out with another guy to help us. We
had to wait about a half hour for him to make it out to us. They were able to
rope tow us back thankfully. We talked while we waited and just said over and
over this is Africa. Only here would the tow trucks be waiting on the opposite
side of the road for cars to get stuck so they could make money. They were not
blocking the lane of danger but leading people to it so that they could experience
a good night of business. We also decided in the car to stay the night at
Margie’s and have her bring us back to work the nest morning. We saw Sunday
night end sitting on the highway waiting for a tow…
Day 3- Monday, March 25
Once we finally made it to Margie’s house it was 2am. We had
to get up around 5:30am to shower and get ready in order to be back at the baby
house for work at 7am. Margie lives 30 minutes from the baby house. We stopped
for McDonalds (again) and made it back just in time to work. We unloaded the
car and I was getting ready to bring my suitcase to the flat when I heard my
name being called from small babies. There was a little guy waiting to be named
and I was going to be the one to name him! So despite the lack of sleep Monday
morning turned out to be pretty neat. I will write more about my little guy in
the next blog that I post.
Overall it was a great weekend and we had lots of fun. We
cannot thank Margie enough for all that she has done for us and will continue
to do for us. Her life if very busy right now as she is getting ready to come
to the States for the summer and then she is being transferred to London.
Please keep her in your prayers as she has been such a blessing to all of us at
Door of Hope. She will be greatly missed around here.
Until next time,
Emily
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